Three lethal knives were confiscated from patients admitted to a busy accident and emergency department.

They are a stark contrast to the efforts of the medics and nurses at Worthing Hospital's A&E, who are in the business of saving lives rather than ending them.

Politicians warned last night the weapons were further evidence of the dangers frontline medical staff face every day of their professional lives as violence and abuse in hospitals escalates.

Last week, The Argus exclusively revealed that Sussex Police were called out to the county's hospitals 2,300 times in one year.

In Worthing's case, they were called out 267 times between April 1, 2004, and March 31, 2005.

On average, officers attended each hospital 192 times - almost four times a week.

East Worthing MP Tim Loughton said: "This highlights the dangers our hospital staff face all too regularly. It's a sad reflection on life today that members of the public behave so abusively towards professionals there to help and that it's now necessary to spend part of the health budget on security guards and CCTV cameras for A&E departments.

"I hope management staff will continue to do everything they can to minimise the risk to doctors and nurses."

The biggest knife confiscated at Worthing was a commemorative-style six-inch dagger. The other two were kitchen knives with blades of between three and five inches.

One of the knives was removed from a patient trying to hurt himself while the other two were taken from patients who carried them into the department.

A hospital spokeswoman said: "The knives will be disposed of in due course but are being looked after by our security team at the moment.

"It is not common to come across knives like these but when we do, our security team will ensure the person carrying is ejected from the hospital.

"Violence and assaults on our staff are something we take extremely seriously and we have a zero tolerance policy."

The hospital is waiting for a £22,500 security system, which will increase the number of cameras from 23 to 32.

Security guards are also offered made-to-measure stab vests to protect them from knives and hypodermic needles.